Monthly Archives: November 2014

1. Post 11 random facts about yourself.
2. Answer 11 questions asked by the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate 11 bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to do the same.
4. Let the bloggers know you have nominated them.

11 Random Facts About Me

1. I am a redhead.

2. I never learned how to drive or had drivers license until I was 27. I started off driving my sisters Hyundai accent, I never wanted to drive anything bigger. Then we bought a mini-van, I thought the mini-van was way too big, and hated driving it. A few years later my husband wanted a pick-up truck, so now I’m driving a big RAM truck and I never want to drive anything smaller!

3. I live in the second snowiest city in Canada.

4. My eyesight is horrible, I have had glasses since I was six. I hated them because they magnified my eyes. I liked them because they had cute pictures of minnie mouse along the arms.

5. I have two sisters, and no brothers. I am the oldest. Growing up myself and the sister closest in age to me used to tell my younger sister she was an alien and the “mother ship” was eventually coming back for her, she believed us for years.

6. I grew up in a fairly large city, and moved to a very small town when I was 14. For years I wanted to go back, I missed being in a city. I always said I would move back one day. But, I have lived in the same town ever since I was 14 and its kind of grown on me. I’ve actually daydreamed about living in a smaller town or a farm.

7. I have never been outside of Canada.

8. I wanted to be a lawyer as a child.

9. We got a German shepherd in June, I think some people thought we were crazy because we have three small children, But she is an amazing and well behaved dog. I would recommend the breed to anyone, she is so smart, and good with the kids.

10. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at 25. I had an episode that lasted about two months and hasn’t returned since. I never gave much thought before that about how difficult it must be for people to live with chronic pain. I only got a small taste of it in the those 2 months and it really put into perspective the suffering some people endure everyday.

11. I had all three of children by C-section. I wholeheartedly believed I was going to die each time.

Q & A

1. Q – If you had to eat the same meal everyday for the rest of your life, what would it be?
A – Definitely pizza!

2. Q – Do you have any recurring dreams or recurring themes in your dreams?
A – I used to have a lot of dreams my children were in trouble and I couldn’t make it to them
fast enough.

3. Q – What does blogging mean for you?
A – For me it means an outlet, a place to vent or just to write. It also has shown me the very real
human side of people from all over the world with different backgrounds and different cultural and
religious views. It is a heart-warming feeling when you are reading someone else’s post and you are
able to connect and relate to it.

4. Q – Would you choose ninja or pirate? vampire or werewolf? socks or hats?
A – Ninja, Vampire and socks!

5. Q – What is the one thing that always helps you relax or feel better?
A – A bath always works!

6. Q – If you celebrate Christmas, what present do you want the most this year?
A – There is honestly nothing I want or need, seeing my kids happy and every one close to me healthy and
happy is about all I could I ever want!

7. Q – Do you feel more comfortable with yourself as you age?
A – Yes, My appearance is not as important to me as It once was.

8. Q – You have to choose between these hobbies: knitting? gardening? collecting items (and what items)?
bird watching? bee keeping?
A – Gardening, my flowers usually die but I enjoy gardening any-ways!

9. Q – Do you have a favorite book or author? What about genre?
A – I don’t have any particular favourite author, I do enjoy mysteries though.

10.Q – Has social media brought you closer to people, or has it kept you from making genuine connections?
A – I think it has kept me connected to many people I probably would not have kept contact with, But
it has also occupied a lot of my time at times, keeping me from connecting with people around me. I
try to limit my time if I see I am getting too consumed!

11.Q – What is the reason and/or meaning behind your blog’s title?
A – I sometimes feel like the “man overboard” trying to raise three children, hence “Mom overboard.”

My Questions:

1. how old were you when you started driving?

2. Did you go to college/university?

3. When did you start blogging and why?

4. If you could have 3 wishes granted what would they be?

5. What was your favourite subject in elementary school?

6. Do you have pets?

7. Do you have children?

8. favourite meal?

9. If you were stranded on an island and could only have three songs with you, what would they be?

I’ve concluded lately that I must be suffering from a physical or mental ailment. I have been having peculiar, unexplained symptoms. They include, hallucinations, an inability to properly string together sentences coherently, and I have been hearing voices!

I noticed the first symptom one day when I asked my children if their rooms were clean. To which they unanimously, with an eye roll each, and a quick snicker to one another, replied,

“YES, of course, mom!” .

Something about the way they snickered led me to believe they may not be practising honesty. I decided to go investigate for myself and low and behold my eyes conjured up an unholy mess that according to my children, “wasn’t even there.” I sighed and in an attempt to gain sympathy from my husband I exclaimed,

A hug,
Can calm your crying,
Soothe a child sobbing,
Have you forget the horrible thing,
That has you thinking,
You are dying,
Wonderful things a bug can bring,
When problems are multiplying,
When the world seems trying,
Having arms intertwining,
May have you finding,
Your worries are unwinding,
Oh, There is no denying,
The power of a hug,

BUT!

What if…

A hug,
Was used more sinisterly,
Dastardly,
Slightly, haphazardly,
Ratherly ingeniously,
Honestly, slightly manipulatively,
Hugging administered effectively,
Can end sibling rivalry,
Siblings hugging forcibly,
Enforcing, them coercively,
While harvesting undeniably,
The power of a hug!

A hug
Can halt siblings crying,
Hitting, kicking, and sobbing,
When punishing doesn’t solve a thing,
You may start thinking,
Forcing Sibling hugging can seem worse then dying,
Wonderful things a hug can bring,
When the fights are multiplying,
How about trying,
Having their arms intertwining,
You may start finding,
The fighting is unwinding,
Oh, there is no denying,
the power of a hug!

It’s a way of life in Newfoundland,
Deer lake airport has become his second home throughout the years,
My selfless husband devotes his time, sweat, blood and tears,
Ultimately sacrificing his life to a seismic crew and the Oilsands of the Mainland,

He works holidays, birthdays, Christmas day, fathers day and more,
He works everyday, from sun up to sun down,
Spending months in a work camp without seeing a town,
Spending months working, until his body is tired, worn and sore,

He has endured tornadoes in the blistering desert heats of Oman,
Endured the extreme colds of Alberta and Alaska which left frostbite on his fingers and arms,
His days tattoo his skin and his heart with scars,
Yet, my oil field man stands strong and treks on,

He has climbed sand dunes and rugged terrains,
While praying vipers, scorpions, wolves, cougars and bears, wouldn’t see him there,
Throughout it all never thinking life is unfair,
Throughout it all my oil field man never complains,

Because, although he has given the oilfield his time and most of his life,
Although seismic has borrowed his body and mind,
Every time he leaves, his heart is left behind,
Every time he leaves his remaining part is kept safely until his return, by his children and his wife.

I’ve concluded lately that I must be suffering from a physical or mental ailment. I have been having peculiar, unexplained symptoms. They include, hallucinations, an inability to properly string together sentences coherently, and I have been hearing voices!

I noticed the first symptom one day when I asked my children if their rooms were clean. To which they unanimously, with an eye roll each, and a quick snicker to one another, replied,

“YES, of course, mom!” .

Something about the way they snickered led me to believe they may not be practising honesty. I decided to go investigate for myself and low and behold my eyes conjured up an unholy mess that according to my children, “wasn’t even there.” I sighed and in an attempt to gain sympathy from my husband I exclaimed,

“Would you look at this mess!”

My husband at the time, was playing clash of titans on his phone and in the middle of an intense war or maybe planting crops (I can never figure out which one.) The game obviously needed his complete and undivided attention. He seemed annoyed by my question. I remember thinking at the time that he might have been planting imaginary vegetable crops to feed his very real family, because he had been using all our very real money to buy his imaginary beloved bags of gems. I can only assume he has the uncanny ability to see through the top of his head, and being enthralled with his game (planting crops or fighting kings) he used this extraordinary ability, because without even looking up, he quickly replied,

“I don’t see a mess.”

At this point I was feeling rather defeated but I decided to give it one more try. I proceeded to ask my children,

“Why are your rooms a mess, after I explicitly asked you to clean them?”

They shrugged their shoulders, looked at one another grinning conspicuously and said,

“They aren’t.”

That’s when I came to the conclusion I must be suffering from hallucinations.

I noticed my inability to string together coherent sentences after days, weeks and months of my children and my husband not seeming to understand what I was saying to them. I would say to my children,

“Go brush your teeth.”

and in my incoherent babbling they would hear,

“Go play xbox.”

or

“Go flick your toothbrush with water, place it in your mouth for three seconds, pretend you brushed your teeth, and then when I tell you to brush them again, whine and stomp your feet!”

My suspicions were even further confirmed when my husband began to misconstrue what I was saying to him. I would ask,

“Can you please take out the garbage?”

I would ask him this, the night before garbage day in an attempt to avoid him in the morning, inevitably running outside in his boxers for all the neighbours to see! Nonetheless my incoherent babbling got the better of me and had him hearing,

“Please ignore me, don’t take out the garbage tonight, wait until you hear the garbage truck coming down the road, Leap out of bed, spew random profanities, mutter that I should have told you garbage day was coming and proceed to take the garbage outside in your boxers!”

As you can see, I’m suffering from some very serious symptoms, and those aren’t even the most alarming. I have been hearing voices as well! Last week I thought I heard my children downstairs fighting and I “thought” they were calling each other names. To my surprise when I questioned them no one had any idea what I was talking about! There was also an incident with my husband. I was complaining about the children as I usually do and I distinctly heard him mutter,

“For the love of god, would you shut up already!”

I glared at him intensely, with my hands on my hips, ready to let off the fully loaded cockpit of arguments that I had been waiting to unleash on him for months, as I sternly demanded,

“Why would you say something like that to me?”

He looked puzzled for a second, as if I had heard something I wasn’t supposed to hear, after a few seconds the seemingly distressed look on his face had disappeared and he simply replied,

“What’s that darling? I didn’t say anything!”

I am becoming so worried about all these bizarre symptoms, a trip to doctor will soon be in order. If not, I may start to hallucinate that I am on a secluded island, sipping daiquiris, watching nearby dolphins playing angelically. Running sand between my toes, while the warm sun beams on my face and I fan myself with a paper that appears to read “divorce agreement,” or I may just start to hallucinate that my children are sobbing uncontrollably, clinging to the suitcases that they hold in each hand, behind domineering black iron gates, simultaneously crying,

Why do mornings seem to defy the logics of time? In the morning it seems like all things tangible and intangible are set to “slow motion” even the kettle takes longer to boil. I have a bit of a control issue, so I like to think that I can do things or not do things to take control of a situation. So I try and be as prepared as I can be for the morning routine with the kids. I pour their cereal into their bowls with a paper towel over the top, and cut up some fruit the night before. I place their clothes in their rooms, and place mine in the washroom. Maya’s hair buckles and earrings are placed by her place-mat, and the kids lunch bags are in the fridge ready to go. I even put sugar and coffee in my mug and place it by the kettle. I do all this because if done at 6:30PM it takes three minutes whereas, if done at 6:30AM it takes twenty-three minutes, and opens the floodgates to the lurking reservoir of chaos, that will strategically place dominos throughout my day, destined to topple one at a time quickly gaining momentum, and precedence as each chaotic episode fuels the next. Which, will undoubtedly start with me leaving the house with my shirt on inside out, and backwards, the two year old will still be in pyjamas, the older children will forget their lunches, the dog will miss her morning walk and I won’t have time to drink my coffee (you don’t want to know what’s lurking in the “mommy had no coffee” reservoir.) So being prepared is my only defence against the impending chaos that looms around the corner which results from this slow motion time lapse we experience each morning.

I don’t know if everyone’s mornings share this strange phenomena. Maybe it’s just my house that is seemingly afflicted with a riff in the time continuum that only takes place in the early morning hours. For today though, the riff has been eluded, the metaphorical floodgates have been shut, and the chaos has been kept away. Which in turn allowed us to take a non-metaphorical walk chaos-free down by real flood gates, while taking advantage of this captivating November day!

It’s hasn’t been a week since Halloween and the three pillow cases of candy have seriously diminished in size. Looking at those half empty bags really highlights my need to start eating healthy again. I’ve gained five pounds and the kids are just not accepting that a candy fairy snuck in throughout the night and could only use candy to build her tiny little fairy town, for her tiny little fairy babies. Times like these I wish I wasn’t raising them to think before they believe everything. Last year I was on a health kick, exercising, eating quinoa, drinking ungodly amounts of water and smoothies everyday, you know all that healthy stuff you’re supposed to do. I’ve since fallen into this unhealthy eating cycle, again. I can feel it taking a toll on my body, I feel generally sick all the time, I don’t have energy, my skin is bad, and I don’t sleep well. Of course, that last one could be due to the two year old who decides half way through the night she’s going to sleep crossways in the bed and kick mommy in the face, and ask for her “sucky” twenty times a night, because it fell out of her mouth while she was busy kicking mommy in the face… I mean sleeping, or the fact she wakes up screaming saying Matthew punched her, Jenny bit her or Maya pulled her hair (They even fight in their dreams). It could very well be an effect of any one of those scenarios, but for now I’ll chalk it up to my unhealthy eating habits.

My husband isn’t going to like the comeback of quinoa flax muffins. (Which he lovingly renamed “shit tarts”) and the kids aren’t going to be happy about the replacement of Their beloved Greco pizza with cauliflower pizza, but those half eaten bags of Halloween guilt are not going to justify themselves, the sugar highs are getting out of control, and these extra pounds aren’t going to evaporate. So goodbye Halloween candy it was good while it lasted but you just can’t stay here.